This Means War
by The Resident Artichoke
Summary: Fiyero loves playing tricks on Elphaba, even before they got married. They move into their new castle and end up arguing over Fiyero's previous schemes. After a small trick from Elphaba, Fiyero declares a prank war on her. Who will win? Fiyeraba fluff. AU
1. Chapter 1

**AN. This is a short multi-chapter Fiyeraba fanfiction. We're in an alternate universe in which Elphaba never defied gravity *gasp* but had a happy ever after with Fiyero instead... or is it?**

**Disclaimer: If Wicked was mine, there would be a scene showing how Frex died. Trust me, it won't be pretty. Be glad it's not mine ;)**

* * *

Elphaba and Fiyero stared at their new home. Il Mare was very simple, small and as the name suggested, it was a castle by the sea. Elphaba initially hated the idea of living beside a large body of water but Fiyero assured her that everything would be fine. Of course, it didn't help that the King and Queen of the Vinkus themselves had chosen it as their residence.

Elphaba's gaze went to the waves crashing on to the shore. Sensing her tension, Fiyero wrapped his arms around her. "The water can't melt you, Fae," he teased.

"I know you wanted a moat Fiyero, but this is too much."

"This is not too much and you were the one who won't let me have my moat," Fiyero took her hands within his and kissed her knuckles. "The castle is pretty strong, Elphaba; if somehow there are disturberances with the sea, we'll survive," he reassured her and Elphaba just nodded.

Fiyero didn't understand his new bride's fear of water. He understood that she drowned once when she was a child, but still he thought it was ridiculous.

"Let's go inside," he tugged her hand and pulled her in.

Their things have been brought in the week before. Most of them were wedding gifts from the wealthy families all over Oz and the rest were antiques from the King and Queen. Elphaba had the feeling that Galinda went to their new home at least twice to see to the arrangements. She smiled at the thought.

The hall was adorned with colorful banners and tapestries, possibly made by past generations of the ruling family. There was a rather grand courtyard just beyond the massive door. She knew there were several other rooms in the castle and from what she heard every bit of wooden furniture was beautifully carved by the most skilled craftsmen in Oz.

Elphaba furrowed her brows as she looked around. It was all too much! How could this be the simplest and smallest castle the royal family owned? She almost slapped herself as she realized the obvious. Of course everything should be too much and more; she married a prince.

They went to their room and what greeted them proved that Galinda had been there. There was a large frame that contained several photographs of the couple. Elphaba walked closer and noticed that most photos were from Shiz. There were even ones from when Fiyero and Elphaba couldn't stand each other.

She heard Fiyero chuckle. "Look at that. It's the Ozdust!" he pointed to a picture on the left where Fiyero was trying Elphaba's black hat on, having the craziest expression on his face as Elphaba laughed. "I can't believe Galinda took a picture of that," he then referred to a picture of Elphaba smacking Fiyero's head with a book.

"I remember that," she said wistfully.

_Galinda came to the library to meet with Elphaba about a certain project, with her boyfriend in tow. Fiyero just had to suppress a grin as he checked the piece of paper in his pocket._

_It was payback time._

_The green girl tricked him into believing that if the lines on his hands didn't align with each other then he was going to die of some horrendible disease. Elphaba then slapped his hands with great force, causing his palms to hit him right on the face. Galinda burst out laughing. Fiyero was either red with pain from the blow or with embarrassment._

_"So you've got the nerve to show up?" Elphaba teased._

_Galinda slapped her friend's arm lightly. "Come on Elphie. Fiyero simply had never heard of the trick," she said, trying to keep a straight face._

_"Or was stupid enough to believe it," Elphaba added._

_"Hey! I didn't come here to be insulted," he said, angrily._

_The girls apologized but little giggles could still be heard. Fiyero discreetly prepared his trick. As they were speaking about their project, he took the book Elphaba was currently reading, got the bookmark and replaced it with his handmade gag one._

_"Where's my book?"_

_Fiyero looked up. "Relax Fae, I have it here."_

_"Don't you dare call me that name again. I finally got you to stop calling me Elfae and now you just decide to make up another nickname?"_

_He held out both palms. "Let's face it. Your name is a mouthful and Elphie is Galinda's nickname for you; Elfae was just a random thing," Fiyero started calling her that after he asked Elphaba if she was related to any elves. "So I'll call you Fae."_

_"All of our names have three syllables!" Elphaba exclaimed, but in a hushed tone._

_"Yours is weird."_

_Galinda nudged her boyfriend. She took her notebook and started to jot down some things. Elphaba rolled her eyes and took her book. Fiyero crossed his fingers under the desk, hoping the trick worked. Finally, he heard a pop and then a short shriek._

_"Sweet Oz!"_

_Everyone stared at Elphaba. The librarian eyed their table. Fiyero looked at Elphaba with a smirk. Her hand was covering her mouth and the book she was reading was on the floor. _

_Fiyero laughed, pointing a finger at her. __"Got you!"_

_But his happiness was short lived. One moment, he was seeing a very furious Elphaba and then the next thing he knew, a thick, hardbounded book was hurled at him. There was a sudden snap of light before Elphaba marched towards him._

"The exploding bookmark trick. It was one of your better pranks."

"One? All my pranks were pure genius, dear."

She scoffed. "Yeah, the ghost of the hallway prank was pure genius," she said sarcastically.

"Alright, that one backfired just because Galinda and her facial mask looked creepier than me in makeup," he admitted. "And you hit me with a book... again."

"It's not my fault I thought you were some maniac," she shrugged. "Let's just admit that all your pranks were idiotic and pointless."

She proceeded to reading a letter from Galinda. Fiyero then took it out of her hand and hid it behind his back then over her head, playfully.

"That letter is addressed to Elphie. Are you _Elphie_?" she tried to reach his hand, but Fiyero was so much taller than she was.

Fiyero stole a quick kiss from her. "Not until you admit my pranks are genius."

She crossed her arms over her chest and sighed. "Fine," Elphaba finally said. "Your favorite fruit is watermelon, right?" Fiyero nodded. "What if I told you, I could make your hand smell like a watermelon, will you then give me my letter back?"

Fiyero nodded again. It wasn't usual when Elphaba would perform magic tricks on Fiyero to get what she wanted but Fiyero revelled in those moments, always amazed by her talent.

"Give me your hand," she said. Before he did so, Fiyero took Elphaba's hand and kissed it. She rolled her eyes and then drew an oval that was meant to be a watermelon, on his palm with her finger. "Ready? Smell."

Confused, Fiyero slowly brought his palm to his nose. He didn't expect Elphaba to slap the back of his hand, hard. "Ow!"

Before he could get over the pain, his wife was already in stitches of laughter. "I can't believe you fell for that again!"

He reddened with embarrassment. Fiyero opened his mouth to say something but Elphaba's lips covered his just in time to keep him silent. She wrapped her arms around him and sneakily took the letter from his fingers.

"See you later, Yero. I love you," she said.

He just stared after her as she left the room. Nobody embarrasses Fiyero Tiggular and gets away with it... well, except her. When he was all alone, feeling the aftershock of humiliation, he decided that he should do something about it.

"This means war," he declared.

* * *

**Just a fun fact. Il Mare was a romantic South Korean film about a seaside house and a time-travelling mailbox. It was remade as The Lake house starring Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves. Il Mare means 'the Sea' in Italian. I couldn't think of a castle name so I used that! Thanks for reading and please leave your thoughts in a form of a review. I accept good, bad, corrections and troll reviews :)**


	2. Chapter 2

Fiyero chuckled to himself. This one was sure to prove to his wife that he was a genius pranker. He put the rest of the rubber bands in his pocket and examined his work. It was Elphaba's turn to wash the dishes tonight and when she turns the tap on, she will get the surprise of her life.

Of course Fiyero knew she would be extremely furious at him, but to see the look on her face after the trick would be worth a night of silent treatment. It was made so much better by the fact that Elphaba hated getting herself wet.

Some minutes later, Elphaba walked in the kitchen. She went over to Fiyero and kissed his lips.

"What are you doing here, Yero?" she asked.

Fiyero's eyes widened. "I um...wanted to see what's for dinner."

Elphaba rolled her eyes and lifted the lid off the pot. A mouth-watering aroma filled the room. Fiyero immediately knew what it was. His new wife smiled at him, knowingly.

"Do you have any idea how much I love you?" He went to wrap his arms around Elphaba. "You know me so well."

"Well, I should know that _sinigang_ is your favorite since you force your chef to cook it at least every week."

"Hey! You like it too and I recall you saying that this is your favorite Vinkun dish," he said. Fiyero remembered taking her to the Vinkus for the first time. His mother made a huge deal out of everything, especially the food served. She made sure that everything was proudly Vinkun.

_"Mom, it's just my girlfriend. It's not Princess Ozma!" Fiyero said in exasperation. No matter how many times he told his parents to not fuss over it because he knew it would make Elphaba uncomfortable, they still wouldn't listen._

_"She might as well be, if she could do this miracle on you," the queen smiled at her son._

_Fiyero looked around the kitchen. The staff were running around like crazy, but still they looked like a well-oiled machine. If this was just dinner, he can't imagine what Lurlinemas would be like. _

_He left to find Elphaba. He had a secret grudge against his father for showing his girlfriend the library. Now, he had to find a girl, most likely clad in black, in a three-storey room, filled with Oz's most boring books._

_The strong, musty smell of decaying books hit him upon entering. This was one of the reasons why he never liked libraries; they smelled. He finally found her, almost blending in with the potted plant she sat beside to. Since she looked very intrigued by what she was reading, Fiyero decided to startle her, but like always, she just stared up at him irritably, almost like she knew he would do that._

_"Nice try, Yero," she said, smirking at him._

_"Would the exploding bookmark be the last time I get you?"_

_Elphaba pretended to think about it. "Pretty much."_

_"I doubt that," he said, getting an eyeroll from her. Oh, so she was challenging him? He looked around the spacey room, thinking of an idea. Grinning, Fiyero slipped out of her sight._

_He did this to his mother once and it scared the queen out of the library for days until the moment she discovered her son was behind the trick. A few years ago, he threaded some string in some of the older books. Fiyero went upstairs, picked up the dullest book he could find and surely enough, a string was tightly attached to the spine of it._

_First, he needed to set the atmosphere. He extinguished some torches. Elphaba didn't seem to notice a change, still looking quite engrossed with the book. Fiyero shook his head. "Classic Elphaba," he muttured to himself._

_An idea then sprung up to his mind. He took some more books and slowly began to drop them, the sounds echoing loudly. He looked down on his girlfriend and found her looking around, trying to figure out where the sound was from. _

_It's working, Fiyero thought with smirk on his face._

_Taking the strings of two books, he slowly lowered them down in front of her. Elphaba didn't even twitch. Desperate to get her attention, Fiyero swung the book back and forth until finally he got her to look up from her book. The book had hit her rather hard on the head, knocking her glasses off. Before he could apologize, Elphaba pulled the strings sharply causing it to burn Fiyero's fingers._

_"FIYERO!"_

_He slowly went back to her, rubbing the small injury he got. "I...um the food is ready, I think." She held the strings in front of him, demanding an explanation. "Yeah, I'm sorry. If it make you feel better, I got-" he said, looking at his fingers. "string burn?"_

_Dinner was very painful. His fingers could barely hold the utensils. Normally, when Fiyero was wounded, Elphaba would play the part of a caring girlfriend, but she wouldn't even look at him. He looked down sadly at his favorite dish, sinigang. He wasn't even hungry anymore._

_His parents were loving her. The king kept asking her about the way her father governs Munchkinland and her opinions regarding several topics from the Animal banns, which Fiyero found out Elphaba loved to rant about when they stole/saved the Lion cub, to which shoes he should wear while visiting the Quadling Country._

_"I think this is so far the best dish I've had here," she told Fiyero's mother, who smiled widely at her._

_"I knew you would love it! It's also Fiyero's favorite you know? He would always have our chef make it at least every week. Isn't that-" her eyes fell to her son's plate. "Fiyero, why haven't you touched your dinner?"_

_He raised up his fingers. Elphaba rolled her eyes. It wasn't like his hands were chopped off!_

_"And who did that?" the queen asked with concern._

_Elphaba smiled. "He did, your Majesty."_

She got the table ready while Fiyero waited. He insisted on helping her but Elphaba knew he would just start eating the food before they got anything started.

Dinner was unusually quiet. Fiyero was too busy indulging himself to hold a conversation with his wife. Elphaba just rolled her eyes as her husband flashed her a closed mouthed smile with a piece of vegetable dangling from his lips.

When they were done, Elphaba told Fiyero to move to the living room for dessert. He rushed to the other room happily and sat on the sofa. He loved his wife so much. He considered himself the luckiest man in all of Oz to be married to a beautiful, intelligent and well, unique woman. Sighing lightly and then shifting his position to lie back comfortably, something fell out of his pocket and on to the floor.

Rubber bands.

Fiyero's eyes widened in realization. He stood up and began a mad dash towards the kitchen.

"FIYERO!"

Woops. Too late.

Fiyero slowly went to her, a frightening wave of déjà vu settling over him. Even though she was soaking wet, Elphaba was seriously steaming. Fiyero could have laughed and pointed out that she was cleaner than the utensil she was holding, but he was too scared of the fury in his new wife's eyes

"Why is a rubber band wrapped around the faucet?" she said, in that low and calm voice she does when she's really mad.

He shrugged. "I may or may not have put it there?" he chuckled, nervously.

Fiyero crept back, his wife advancing towards him. As they entered the living room, Elphaba closed the door behind her, causing five rolls of strategically placed toilet paper to fall and drape all over her. He forgot about those. They stuck because she was still dripping from the previous prank. One circled around her leg without her noticing, so when she started walking, she tripped.

Once the shock wore off, Elphaba stared at him dead in the eyes, lips pursed and looking absolutely terrifying.

"I... uh thought y-you might want to dry off," he stammered.

A cloud of anger fell over Elphaba's darkened face. He took another step backward. Had the guts to set everything up but can't face the aftermath? Some pranker.

"I will invent a whole new level of hell just for you," Elphaba said, holding Fiyero's gaze strongly. He only realized she was very close to him when she leaned to his face and seethed, "This. Means. War."

Fiyero gulped.

* * *

That night, when Elphaba finally changed into a _dry_ nightgown. She sat at the desk and started to formulate her brilliant plot. And it all starts with a letter to her best friend.

"Dear Galinda,

I have a slight conflict with Fiyero. Think you could get Sammy here?"

**Someone's reading! Thanks to all who reviewed, favorited and followed! And there were no troll reviews from JK Rowling this time! Next chapter we'll see Elphaba's prank. Who's Sammy? Any guesses? **

**Sinigang is actually a Filipino stew. Besides bacon, it's my favorite! Emily Cascarino, Australia's Nessarose, said she liked it.**

**TheWickedrae, that was so funny! Imagine that happening before ALAYM when they're in the forest. Weird is good ;)**

**Ultimate Queen of Cliffies, yeah hurray for social media! Fiyero is so in for it now.**

******vinkunwildflowerqueen, this **is where the toilet paper comes in. Originally it wasn't suppose to have any toilet paper but I realized that since the cover I m**ade had it then it should be in the story... also toilet paper pranks are classic ;)**

**Stick with me because the next one's gonna be awesome... I hope. Reviews are very much appreciated :)**


	3. Chapter 3

It felt like Lurlinemas morning to Elphaba. Galinda's package was coming and Fiyero was supposed to be with the King that day. She rolled to her front and wondered where the sheets went. A slight shift to the left answered her questions. There Fiyero lay sleeping, face down, with all the sheets bunched up beneath him. She smiled at how absolutely adorable he looked with half his face buried in his pillow and apparently in her hair too.

Elphaba slowly began pulling the mess of raven hair from underneath her husband's head. Unfortunately, Fiyero never grew out of his teenage habit of waking up later than what was required of him. She nudged him with her elbow causing him to stir with an indignant groan.

"Come on, Yero," she cooed, closing in the small distance between them with a tight embrace. She nuzzled his neck, kissing the warm skin there. To her luck, her husband slowly opened his eyes and smiled groggily.

He pulled his wife in his arms and pressed his lips to hers. "Good morning," he said, his voice hoarse from sleep. Elphaba smiled warmly at him. "What time is it?"

"Quite late." She wondered how long it would take for realization to dawn upon him. The King wouldn't want his successor to be late.

Before Fiyero could pull his wife in for another kiss, his eyes widened. He jerked away from her and started running around the room, frantically. "The meeting! Dad... sweet Oz, sweet Oz. Why didn't you wake me up?"

It was so amusing to watch him go from one end of the room to the other, looking so dishelved and crazy. It was only when Fiyero cursed loudly from wearing his shoes the wrong way did she approach him.

"Calm down."

"Don't tell me that! I can't find my papers and these damned shoes won't cooperate with me. And-" Elphaba snuck up to him as he muttured more nonsense. She took both his hands in her left and waved her right over him.

Everything was suddenly as it should be. Fiyero was properly and neatly clothed, his hair didn't look like he just rolled out of bed and the papers he was looking for were tucked right underneath his arm.

When Elphaba let go of his hands, he snapped out of his stupor. He carefully placed the documents down on the side table and gathered her in his arms. "I love you so much, but you could have done that earlier."

She rolled her eyes. "I know. I just want to teach you a lesson."

"And what lesson is that, my darling wife? That I shouldn't stay up very late at night with you?" he teased.

"That you should not sleep for twelve hours everyday," she corrected him.

After a quick breakfast, she kissed Fiyero goodbye and good luck. Elphaba waited restlessly for the package to arrive. She set off to the gardens which overlooked the clear sea. The water still gave Elphaba an unsettled feeling, especially when it rains. She sighed and sat down on one of the benches, nodding at the members of the small staff they had around the castle.

At first, Elphaba didn't like the idea of anyone other than themselves living at Il Mare but after a lot of negotiations with Fiyero and his parents, she finally agreed as long as her terms were obeyed. That meant, minimal staff and everyone left at night. Royalty or not, Elphaba wanted to be a real wife to Fiyero. And that includes cooking him dinner.

"Your highness," a young maid bowed to her.

"Oh please, it's just - never mind," she had been correcting everyone for the umpteenth time to just call her by her name. The queen had told her to get used it since she and Fiyero got engaged, although she knew in herself that she never will.

"There is a package delivered for you from Miss Upland. Should we bring it in?"

She nodded. "Yes, in the library."

The maid went back in and Elphaba followed after a few moments. The box was waiting for her on the table. She excitedly opened it and found a pink note inside. It read, _"Get him, girl!"_

Elphaba smiled and took out Sammy, the demon doll. It looked more horrendible that it did when Galinda first got it. Some parts of the porcelain were broken, its red hair dusty, uncombed, almost as if Galinda wasn't its owner. Almost. Though Galinda named it as a boy doll, she insisted that it wore pink clothes, complete with a pink bonnet and pink shoes.

She remembered the day she first saw the doll.

_"Sweet Oz!" Elphaba exclaimed as a floating, porcelein baby doll greeted her at her dorm room. "Galinda! What the hell is that?"_

_Her roommate smiled. "This is Sammy, my doll."_

_"Ok. What is it doing here?" she said, eyeing the doll that still floated in the middle of their room._

_Galinda excitedly placed down her wand. The doll slowly fell to the floor in a sitting position. Its blue eyes seemed to be set on Elphaba. "My granny, you know the one that bought that pointy hat I gave you, got me this and it came with lots of different clothes and-"_

_"I mean, why was it floating around?"_

_"Oh, to scare you! Well, were you?" Galinda asked_

_She peeked at the creepy doll. "Yes."_

There were times when the friends strategically placed the doll in hidden places inside their room to scare the other. It was Galinda's idea but Elphaba soon played along for revenge. By the end of the semester, the girls hated the doll and kept it hidden until Galinda was able to send it back to her house.

With a look around her large home, Elphaba knew she would have fun.

* * *

Fiyero came home late in the afternoon. He was greeted by Elphaba at the door with a loving kiss.

"How was the meeting?" she asked as they settled in the living room.

"You know, bunch of old, important men talking about old, important stuff. Actually, I'd rather have you there with me." he said and she smiled warmly. There was something in her smile that was so different. Fiyero pulled her in his arms, took a green hand and kissed it. "Or instead of me."

She responded by throwing a pillow at his face. Before he could complain, her lips were on him taking him off guard. It was times like these that made him thankful for Elphaba's bargain about the staff that will serve them. At night, it was only them... or so he thought.

Out of the corner of his sight, Fiyero saw a small figure standing at the doorway. He broke away from Elphaba to look at it but it was gone.

"What is it?"

He shook his head before turning to face her. "No- _THING!_" Right behind his wife was a bloodied porcelein doll, smiling up at him. "Behind you!"

She glanced back, seeing nothing. "Fiyero? What's wrong?"

At a blink, it was gone again. Either he was so tired out from his day with his father or he was going crazy. "I-I saw or I thought I saw... nothing. It was nothing. Listen Fae, I think I'm just tired."

At dinner, Fiyero dazely picked at his food with his fork. He pondered on the plausible explanations for his little scare earlier. Maybe Il Mare was haunted and that was why the royal family rarely chose it as a residence? Maybe he was going crazy? Fiyero breathed out heavily. He chose a bad time to go crazy if it was so. He was just a newlywed, fresh from the honeymoon.

Fiyero didn't even realize that his grip on his fork loosened until it fell with a clang to the floor. Cursing, he bent down to retrieve it. As he reached for the silverware, he saw the doll sitting in the middle of the floor under the table, staring right into his eyes.

"Oh shit!" he exclaimed. With the fork long forgotten, he hurriedly rose up, hitting his head hard on the table in the process.

Elphaba just stared at him in concern. "What is it? Fiyero, are you alright?"

Fiyero grasped her hand, eyes filled with panic. "Fae, there's something under the table!"

"What? A dead rat?"

"No! It's like a baby doll and-" Fiyero didn't even get to finish his sentence when his wife dove under the table. "Elphaba no! It might get you!"

"There's nothing here Fiyero," she sat back up. "And I'm pretty sure whatever it was, it won't get me. Maybe you are just tired. It's probably just a strange part of your highly imaginative mind."

"I know what I saw!" he snapped at her.

She lifted her hands in mock defeat. "Alright. Just look back again, take your fork, _wash it _and continue eating."

Just as Elphaba had said, nothing was there except for his fork. He retrieved it and went to the sink to wash it. Fiyero then came back and angrily stabbed a vegetable as if it did something mean to him.

He continued to see _the thing_, as he liked to call it, for several days afterwards. Fiyero tried to ignore it, thinking that might have been a strange part of his highly imaginative mind. He was successful... for a few days.

It had been a very hot day, since it was almost summer. That night, Fiyero couldn't take the heat so he decided to go down the kitchen and get a glass of water. Elphaba had just fallen asleep moments ago so he quietly got out of bed without disturbing her.

When he was going back to their room, feeling refreshed, he noticed that a gas lamp was left burning in the library. He thought how strange it was considering his wife never forgets anything important. Fiyero gasped when he saw the familiar small figure, sitting on a pile of books on a chair. Taking it as a chance to finally capture the thing, he crept up behind it.

It had writing materials scattered around it, as if it could write. He stood behind it, surprised that it wasn't moving, and peeked at the words on the paper. _"Kill Kill Kill..."_ it said in red ink, written roughly.

Fiyero couldn't even get himself to touch the thing. He screamed and ran back to his room. All he could think about was that a demon baby doll haunting his castle. He opened the door and jumped at the sight of Elphaba standing in the middle of the room.

"Fiyero, what in Oz name is happening to you?"

He ignored her question and went to wrap his trembling arms around her waist. "Nothing, Fae. You should be asleep."

"I heard you screaming in the library."

Fiyero sighed. "It was the demonic baby doll thing that I was telling you about! It was sitting in the library with a pen and some paper and-" he paused and thought for a moment. "Hang on, how did you know I was in the library?"

She shrugged. "It sounded that way,"

Fiyero paused and thought about it for a moment. Then everything was clear to him. How else could a doll be floating around? "Elphaba?"

Elphaba flashed him a mischievous grin that confirmed his suspicion. Fiyero glared daggers at her. She went behind him and closed the door as she spoke,"Were you scared?"

Just as she was turning around, Fiyero snatched her wrist. "Frankly, I was," He pinned her against the wall and kissed her roughly. "Did you think that was funny?

"Yes, I did," she replied smugly. Elphaba looked into her husbands eyes and saw many things in his deep gaze but it was mostly anger and wounded pride. Yes, she had done a terrific job. "I do hope you learned something from this."

"You think you're so great now, do you?" he growled, his voice low and dangerous. If Fiyero was trying to frighten her then it didn't work. She was too happy from her successful trick and too distracted by his kisses to care about anything he was saying. "Well, let me show you how wrong you are."

**And... cut before it gives me a reason to change the ratings! The response to the last one was amazing! Thanks so much! Only two chapters left :( which I have to get out before Monday because I'm starting college :(( ****A line from the Big Bang Theory somehow ended up here. I wasn't even watching TV when I wrote this. This prank was inspired by a doll war between two brothers. I saw it on pinterest and thought it was cool XD**

**Bunny, nagsisilabasan ang mga Pilipino! **

**wickedwitchgirl, I'm half Filipino too! I'm glad somebody shares my love of sinigang :))**

**BlueD, I know Sam but I don't really watch Supernatural. Who knows? Maybe I'll fall into that fandom one day ;) but now, it's just Wicked, Marvel, Harry Potter and Tom Hiddleston!**

**Wickedly Hope Pancake, now you know who Sammy is! Surprised?**

**Carrara David, how did you guess? Haha! Yes, I am.**

**Next chapter, we'll have Fiyero's grand revenge. Let's see if he could top this one! Review and please feel free to correct me on anything! Me no proofread good :)**


	4. Chapter 4

If that's how Elphaba wanted to play, so be it then. His wife was smug about scaring him with that crazy doll and a little magic. So far the personal tally he had been keeping since he declared the war had Elphaba leading with two points and him losing with one. Once he's done, it's either the scores will even out or if she's severely terrified, he might even win.

"Fae, are you ready?" he called out from outside their room.

"Never," was her only reply.

Fiyero sighed. "It's just a swimsuit," he muttered. Fiyero couldn't really see what the problem was. They gave their staff a day off so they could be alone together. Nobody apart from him will see her.

"It's like I'm wearing close to nothing," he heard her cursing. Judging from the sound of light footsteps, Fiyero guessed she was pacing.

"I _have_ seen you in nothing so why is close to it embarrassing for you? Elphaba, it's not like I'm going to laugh at you." Fiyero said, knowing in himself well that he might. He threw the door open, causing his wife to jump and hide behind a towel. When she relaxed, she noticed Fiyero's equally ridiculous swimming attire and laughed. "Hey, I promised you I won't laugh."

"But I didn't," she pointed out as she stopped laughing. Shyly, she lowered the towel to reveal a blue and white striped swimsuit and waited for Fiyero to say something.

Fiyero smiled and placed his hands on her waist. "It's just like a dress, Fae. Well, an extremely short one," he gave her lips a quick peck. "And you look absolutely stunning."

"Thanks. Although, I can't really say the same thing about you."

He just chuckled. Fiyero led her outside. It wasn't really just a set up for his amazing plot but also Fiyero and Elphaba were celebrating their three month anniversary that day. It took days to convince Elphaba that it was a good idea celebrating their third month anniversary in the beach just beside their home. Actually, it took a lot of begging, bargains and playful wordplays to convince her to celebrate at all but he did it.

From Il Mare they walked on the massive stone steps which led to the beautiful white sand beach that opened to a lively, but at the same time calming blue sea. He glanced at his wife, whose countenance showed hesitation and a very small trace of fear.

"You know my mother loved swimming?" she said. He shook his head and waited for her to continue. "I know I was very young back then, but I remember how frequently we used to go to Lake Orizon in Munchkinland before she... before Nessa was born."

Fiyero knew what she had meant to say but the words were probably to heavy to voice out. Elphaba rarely mentioned her mother but whenever she decides to reveal something about her, it made that day special to him.

"Then I think she would have loved visiting us here."

She smiled at the thought. "I guess."

Everything was already in place. He went by here earlier to prepare while Elphaba made their snacks. The blanket, held down by four large rocks, was spread evenly on the sand. A large umbrella that they found in one of the stock rooms in the castle gave them shade. Plates, glasses and cutlery were laid on the blanket. Fiyero knew he didn't forget anything. He even had some candles even though the sun was still shining brightly.

"See? It's like our first date."

She rolled her eyes. "Considering you tricking me into agreeing to this nearly mirrors how you asked me years ago."

_Galinda kept Elphaba up all night with the creepy doll she named Sammy. Elphaba knew that whenever Galinda had her wand in hand, the doll would always be floating nearby. Sammy was everywhere - in the closet, in her bag, on her bed. Galinda even lit some candles behind the doll and set it standing on the doorway of their bathroom. The horrifying sight of the backlit imp made Elphaba jump back to her bed and lay awake. If Galinda wasn't her friend, she would have punched her in the face by now._

_The empty classroom was so peaceful that Elphaba decided to close her eyes for a few moments. That peace was disrupted when someone entered the room._

_"Fae, you look terrible," she looked up, knowing who was speaking. Fiyero smiled at her cheekily. She covered her face with her hands and groaned. "I've been here for five seconds and already you're cursing my existence."_

_"No, it's just that Galinda kept me up all night with her stupid 'magic practice'. And I already know I look terrible so there's no need in pointing out the obvious."_

_Fiyero dropped his things on the seat next to hers. She cursed inwardly, knowing Fiyero won't leave her alone to rest. Why he wants to spend most of his time with the green girl was beyond her._

_"You know what I think would do you good?" he asked, inching closer to her. Elphaba raised an eyebrow at him, half listening. "Coffee. There's a coffee-house opening near the campus. I thought maybe later after class we could-"_

_"No," Elphaba firmly cut in._

_"But they have this little stage inside so if you sing, you get free coffee and-"_

_"No," she repeated a bit louder this time. "Yero," she said softly. Fiyero smiled at the mention of his nickname. "I don't need coffee. What I need is sleep and time away from that blonde ex-girlfriend of yours."_

_Fiyero thought about it for a moment. "So you don't not want to have coffee with me?"_

_"Yes."_

_"Yes?" he asked, hoping she would never catch on._

_Elphaba's eyes widened in realization. "I mean, no."_

_"So you don't want to have coffee with me?"_

_"No."_

_Fiyero feigned confusion, cocking his head to the side. "So you do want to have coffee with me?"_

_"Damn it Fiyero! I just want to close my eyes for a few minutes! If you don't stop talking, I'll cut your tongue off and sew it back on." she didn't mince her words so he could understand how serious she was._

_The threat scared Fiyero knowing she could and would probably do it if she's particularly annoyed. He imagined what Galinda had done that tire her out like this. She probably had Elphaba help her color code her closet. Fiyero honestly felt sorry for Elphaba, knowing Galinda won't probably leave her alone to sleep._

_That was when it hit him. He grinned and shook Elphaba's shoulder slightly. Blinking a few times, Elphaba looked around the room, expecting the professor to already be there. To her annoyance it was just her and Fiyero plus a few other students who were slowly trickling in._

_"What?" she yelled._

_"Do you have classes this afternoon?" he asked._

_"Fiyero, how many times do I have to tell you, I don't want coffee! I just want to get some sleep but I know I can't because you keep waking me up and Galinda's always playing with her doll and annoying the crap out of me that-"_

_He cut off her rattling. "Okay, okay. What if I could get Galinda out of your hair for the whole afternoon?" Fiyero asked, catching her attention. "But-"_

_Elphaba groaned. "What now?"_

_"Instead of you, I'll take Galinda to the new coffee shop later, but-"_

_"Why can't you just do this as a favor?" she question, looking up at the ceiling then back at Fiyero. "Sorry, continue."_

_"You have to go out to dinner with me, this saturday."_

_Elphaba stilled, feeling the erratic thumping of her heart. What should she say to that? It was a bargain, a very tempting one, but fulfilling her side of it frightened her. Elphaba cherished her friendship with Fiyero. He was one of the few people who would go near her just because he wanted to. If something happened if they took it further - if he found out something about her that he didn't like and it was all that she had, would they still be friends?_

_She mentally kicked herself for not agreeing to have coffee with him. Either way, she can't win. As it dawned upon her that asking her to have coffee with him was his first attempt of asking her out, she was pretty sure her pounding heart stopped beating._

_And then there were the other times she hadn't declined. They were so subtle that Elphaba just thought that they were just regular activities between friends. But they meant so much to Elphaba and now she knew that their small moments together probably meant something to him too._

_Maybe she was just too caught up with her little crush on Fiyero that she thought differently. Perhaps it was just another activity between friends._

_"You know, like a date?"_

_Clearly, it wasn't a regular activity between friends anymore._

_"Just one date and I promise the afternoon is yours."_

_Elphaba found herself nodding. The smile that spread on Fiyero's face as he told her what he had in mind was so bright that she found it contagious and slowly smiled herself. Strangely enough, she didn't feel tired at all._

"I didn't trick you into anything," he said softly, touching her cheek. "But you have to admit, you had the better deal. You got an afternoon of peace and a lifetime with me."

"Yeah, I got more than what I bargained for," she replied sarcastically.

Fiyero took the large basket from her hands and held out a hand for her. She rolled her eyes again but lovingly placed a green hand on his. They settled comfortably on the beach blanket. Fiyero took a bottle of wine, opened it and poured into each of their glasses. They ate the sandwiches Elphaba made.

"Galinda was much more excited at the thought of me dating you than you were," he said, taking a sip of wine. "She's such a hopeless romantic."

Elphaba scoffed at that. "She's just hopeless," Fiyero shot her a look. "What? Galinda is still very much in love with the idea of love. I think that's pretty hopeless."

"Do you think she'll ever marry one day?"

"Oh, you haven't read her recent letter?" she asked, grabbing an apple from the basket and biting out of it.

He shook his head lightly.

"She's seeing this man, she met in the Emerald City. Apparently, this guy made a huge romantic gesture of following her back to Gilikin, which might I add sounds stalker-ish. Now she's saying that it's love and that he might be 'the one'. That was coming from the woman who said she was going to marry you after knowing you for a day."

"Maybe it really is love this time," Fiyero shrugged. He set down his wine glass beside hers and noticed it was still full. "Elphaba, you haven't even touched your glass."

"Don't you think it's too early for that?"

"Well, no," he admitted. "And I don't think it's too early for this either."

His hands, which rested on her lap, smoothed down to her ankles as she closed her eyes to the relaxing feeling only to be yanked forward. She squealed as she fell back, then sighed as his strong arms caught her.

He grinned over her before he leaned and kissed her neck softly. "Why..." Fiyero brushed his lips over a ticklish spot, making her giggle. "do you..." he moved his lips higher kissing her chin. "have to do that?"

Taking her wandering hands above her head, Fiyero paused as he replied, "Why do you have to complain?"

His lips crashed down on hers and kissed her sweetly. Elphaba, still somewhat annoyed at Fiyero for surprising her, didn't respond at first. Running his fingers through her long, raven hair and down the green skin of her beautiful face, he tilted her head a bit and kissed her again and again until he felt her lips move with his own. He only got her lips to part slightly when she placed her hands on his chest to push him away.

"Wait, stop," she said breathlessly. He continued kissing her so she shoved him harder. "I'm serious, Fiyero."

He drew away with concern. "What is it?"

Elphaba couldn't answer. It was strange how greener she looked as she held her palm to her mouth, took an empty bowl and scrambled off away from him. Fiyero ran after her just in time to witness her heave up everything she consumed earlier. He ran back to fetch her a glass of water.

When he returned, she was done retching and just stood there with her eyes closed, breathing heavily. He took the bowl of vomit from her hands, careful not to look at it and replaced it with the glass. Elphaba thanked him and they walked back to their spot. Elphaba sank down exhaustedly.

"Are you sick?" he asked softly.

She smiled in response. "No, I-I think I ate too much and I didn't drink anything but I feel better now."

"Are you sure? Because we can go back to the castle."

Elphaba shook her head. "Really I'm fine now. Besides, if we go back now, you can't teach me how to swim."

Fiyero's face lit up. "We can wait a few more minutes and then we'll go in the water," he filled another glass of water and gave her an orange. "Now, drink this and eat that. I don't want to kiss you with vomit breath."

Before he could say anything, Elphaba's lips were on his, giving him a brief open-mouthed kiss. She smirked at him and said, "Vomit breath huh?"

Even if her breath was perfectly fine, Fiyero was surprised that she still did what he asked, even getting a second orange from the basket.

"If you're done eating all the fruits, I would like to start my lesson." He stood up and held out his hand to Elphaba and pulled her up.

"I don't really get why you feel like you have to escort me everywhere."

He shrugged. "I'm just being a gentleman to my wife."

Fiyero stepped in the water and walked in deeper. He was sure that Elphaba was following behind but when he turned she was still standing at the shore, unsure of what to do.

As the water went up around his waist, he instructed her, "Walk over here," Fiyero went in deeper until it was just above his stomach. "Come on, no matter what the rumours at school say, the water won't melt you."

Elphaba laughed briefly at the joke and slowly went to her husband. The coolness of the water made her gasp, as small waves splashed against her ankles. Deeper in the water, a slight thrill of fear passed through her which only heightened as Fiyero decided it was fun to move back some more.

"Fiyero," she called out, her voice and face showing a small amount of panic. "I can't go any further."

"Relax. It's not that deep."

"But-" she faltered, suddenly feeling foolish. She sighed and continued her battle against the waves to reach him. When she was near enough, she stumbled with the wave and wrapped her arms around Fiyero's neck.

He smiled down at her. "That wasn't bad, was it? Though it's the first time I've seen you that clumsy and that includes those times when you have to wear heels."

"Can... can we go back a bit?" she asked softly, hiding in his chest.

Fiyero smoothed down her hair and spoke in her ear. "Wow, you really are scared, but you must face your fear so..." He untangled himself from her body and swam away from her.

"Fiyero don't! I can't swim!" she yelled, just standing neck-deep in the water. Fiyero was too far away and the waves getting larger.

He laughed. "And what better way for you to learn how to swim th-"

Elphaba's eyes widened as a huge wave consumed Fiyero, drawing him into the blue depths. She dared to moved closer as she craned her head for any sign of him.

"Yero?" she called out for him. "Fiyero, can you hear me?"

She didn't know how much time had passed, she only knew that it was unusual for anyone to hold their breaths underwater that long. The panic felt sickening as it entered her. Elphaba frantically looked around, tears behind her eyes. The large wave that hit her spiked her adrenaline so she was clumsily paddling through the water, desperately trying to swim towards where her husband was.

"Fiyero!" she yelled again, struggling with the waves. For a moment, she was forced down causing her to swallow an amount of salty water.

She coughed, screamed and kicked until two arms caught her by surprise.

"I think I won this round," Fiyero said complacently, carrying her halfway towards the shore.

"What?" Elphaba gazed upon him in horror, her eyes red with both the saltiness of the water and her tears.

"Well, this is my payback for scaring me with that Sammy doll." he laughed in response.

"So y-you think it's funny to play dead while I... while I-," she stopped herself, unable to hold back her tears. "Oh, sweet Oz."

"Elphaba," he placed her down once they reached the shallow part. "It's not like I died. It was just a joke"

Her only response was to walk out of the water and gather her things.

"Wait, where are you going?" he asked, taking a towel and then running after her.

She ignored him as she angrily made her way back to the castle. He put a hand to her shoulder which she shrugged off violently. He made another attempt at touching her by wrapping her shaking body with the towel. Elphaba turned around and shoved him with so much force that it made him stumble backwards.

"Elphaba-"

He watched her storm inside the castle, a confused frown on his face as she slammed the door. Fiyero ran his fingers through his damp hair and groaned. This was not how he planned this to end, not by a longshot. A little anger and humiliation were the emotions he was expecting, not hurt. This was making him uneasy.

And he knew he couldn't get away with this with just a few smoothly delivered words.

When he summoned up all the courage he can, he went to looked for her. Fiyero found her quietly sniffling outside in the gardens that faced the sea. A loud sob made his heart lurch. He could punch himself right now. Stepping out and seeing her curled up on the bench, her back toward him, he was sure his heart had broken completely. The towel that he had loosely draped over her shoulders, was starting to slide off.

Despite his silence, somehow Elphaba sensed his presence. She didn't look at him, she just said, tonelessly, "Leave."

"I don't want to fight with you."

"Nor do I."

Fiyero just stood there, unmoving, until he cleared his throat and began, "Elphaba-"

"Leave," she repeated with more force. By that time, the towel was completely off her body.

Her shivering inspired a deeper sense of guilt. He should have thought about it. All he had in mind was his great revenge. Fiyero should have known better than to purposely let someone, who had a bad childhood experience with water, drown. "I wasn't thinking when I did that. I shouldn't have let you drown. It was just a-"

She whipped around to face him, her glare a haunting mix of exasperation and pain. "Don't you understand why I'm angry? The fact that you let me drown isn't the reason. I'm angry because you're cruel and stupid. All you could think about is this prank war of yours!"

"And that's what it was - a prank, a joke."

"Damn it, Fiyero! I thought you were dead! I thought... I thought-" she faltered, her voice quivering. "But you didn't even stop for second to think what I would feel, did you?"

"I didn't mean to hurt you."

She gave a short, wry laugh. "And yet you did! Fiyero, don't you see? You can't joke about things like that because I can't lose you. Especially now-"

"I know, I know. I'm sorry," he cut her off.

Elphaba stood up and went to face him, her hair disheveled and her face marked with tears.

"I can't help but think that I'm not the right one for you because I can't keep up with these games."

Fiyero's lips curled into a frown at her words. He took her hand and gave them a squeeze. "You know that's not the truth."

"Do I?"

"I'm different now, Fae. I'm not that... kid you first met anymore and you changed that," Elphaba drew her hands back and sat back on the bench again. Fiyero followed and knelt in front of her, his hands placed at her knees. "Surely, this one, idiotic thing I've done won't change the way you think about me."

Elphaba met his gaze warily. "Still, I'm afraid that you'll stop loving me if I stop playing," Fiyero opened his mouth to speak but Elphaba held out her hand and made him pause. "You can't blame me for that. I wasn't exactly a fun person when we met, but I try to be... for you,"

Fiyero looked back on all those times he pushed Elphaba to be a little outgoing. Of course, every time he asked her to do something that was out of her comfort zone, she would be very hesitant but she survived every single time. From partying with him and Galinda at the Ozdust, to having a large wedding. She even sang the Vinkun hymn at an event a year ago after he boasted to his parents how angelic his then fiancée's voice was. And just earlier, facing her fear of water.

Sure he meant well but he knew that he was just doing it for his own benefit. Fiyero was more sociable whereas Elphaba was reserved. Fiyero only wanted Elphaba to like the things he liked. He never gave her a chance to back out.

This was probably the reason why he had steered clear of commitment before her. He didn't know how to not be selfish, how to not be childish and how to care about important things and then she came and inspired him to be better. He decided didn't want to be that infantile teenager that he was and grew up. But apparently, he hadn't learned enough from adulthood to know how to completely erase all traces of his old life.

"You don't know how much trust I put in to rely on you so much. Oz, I don't know what I would do without you."

"I'm sorry I took your trust for granted. I was so stupid."

"Yes, you were... and vindictive," she smiled weakly but it faded once she set her focus on the sea, fresh tears springing in her eyes. "If I lose you... if you left me, I-I just can't..." Fiyero pulled her in his arms and comforted her as she cried inaudibly.

"I promise to do better from now on."

Again, she smiled weakly at him. She took his hands and guided it over her abdomen. He alternated his gaze between her face and his hand. A moment passed before realization sank in. Fiyero merely stared at her, unable to verbally express his happiness.

"I'll hold you to that," she said, placing her hand on his. "So, what do you think?"

He beamed at her but shook his head. "I don't know. Do you forgive me?"

She looked away for a moment, her inner conflict battling whether to punish him a bit more or to accept his apology. When she returned her gaze, she nodded gently and replied, "Yes, I do."

"So... truce? No more pranks, tricks or cruel jokes," he said, before looking down at their joint hands. "I think the baby will appreciate it."

"Truce," she agreed.

Everything was suddenly clearer. Her initial refusal to wear the swimsuit, not drinking any wine, her vomiting and of course, normal Elphaba wouldn't cry that outwardly. He had to thank the kid, if it weren't for it making its mother emotional, Fiyero wouldn't have decided to change his ways and the prank war would probably still be on.

If he had taken his plan further, the baby might have been hurt and he would never forgive himself.

As he stared out to the sea, holding his wife in his arms, Fiyero felt a relaxing peace sweep over him. It was so abrupt that he knew something magical had to be behind it. A green hand on his chest answered his suspicion.

"You needed to calm down," she said, simply.

"I'm sorry but the thought of our children excites me," he said, which was partly the truth.

"Children?"

Fiyero nodded. "We're gonna have a dozen, you know?"

"Personally, I think we should wait until this one is five years old and then I'll let you know if we could have another one," she said, laughing weakly.

Fiyero observed her, the way she focused with her eyebrows scrunched up and her mouth parted slightly. "Is it safe for me to guess that you're nervous?"

"Scared, actually," she admitted. "I mean, aren't you?"

"Maybe a bit, but with you, I'm fine," Elphaba lowered her head, staring at nothing in particular. Fiyero noticed this and pressed a soft kiss to her cheek. His fingertips soothing traced circles down her back. "Fae? There's something more to this, isn't there?"

A long silence came between them, and Elphaba became so quiet that Fiyero assumed she had fallen asleep. He thought, perhaps it was best for her to sleep through whatever anxiety she was feeling at that moment. But as Fiyero started to drift off himself, he heard her respond, quietly, "What if the baby's green?"

Fiyero's arms tightened around her and his puzzled gaze focused on her. "Then the baby's green. I don't want you to trouble yourself with this again, understood?"

"But-"

"No, Elphaba. That's enough. No matter what fate deals us with, we'll love it. It doesn't make a difference," he hoped his tone was compelling enough to convince her. "Maybe it will be green. I can't guarantee a normal life for our kid. All we could do is be there for it. I love you and your skin. Why can't it be the same for the baby?"

Elphaba opened her mouth, but no words left her lips. She just stared at him, falling a little more deeply in love if that was even possible.

"And you know, as a prince or princess, that kid can pretty much do whatever it wants. Other children would think twice before insulting him or her," Fiyero offered.

A wet towel was thrown on his face as a response and then a kiss.

**This was later than usual... Sorry! We had a freshmen orientation at school that left me terrified :( But it was a longer chapter so I hope it makes up for my lateness :) The prank war is officially over but they're having a baby! Don't you just love Fiyeraba babies?**

**Ultimate Queen of Cliffies, you guessed it! Fiyero did use her fear of water :)**

**BlueD, haha! Good luck with that :)**

**TheWickedrae, I don't know if I should feel happy or sorry for traumatising a person for life. I'm so bad. If you wanna join in, Fiyero needs some help haha :)**

**Virtuals hugs to everyone who reads this! Thanks so much! Next chapter is the last one! There is a reason why Elphaba's afraid of water, so watch out for that :) Review pretty please? Also college survival tips are appreciated. Feel free to point out anything that's wrong in this chapter :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Here we are! It's the last chapter guys! So sorry for the delay :( When I started posting, this chapter was only half written...AM SARREHHH! Ok, on with the story.**

The cool water touched the baby girl's feet lightly, causing her to giggle at the new sensation. Fiyero himself couldn't contain his smile as he held his laughing daughter in his arms.

"Aren't you getting tired, Eirlys?"

The nine-month-old ignored her father and continued playing with the water. She sat in the sand, splashing the small waves that came towards her. It was only until she splashed herself in the face with the salty water that she stopped playing and started to cry. Fiyero carried Eirlys out and wrapped her with a towel, snuggling her to his shoulder.

"There, there," he said, comfortingly rubbing the baby's back. "Let's get you back to mommy."

Back at their spot, Galinda was braiding Elphaba's hair tightly, making her wince with every pull. Galinda's daughter was sitting beside her mother, playing with the comb and clumsily brushing her own blonde hair with it.

"Serena, sweetie, can mommy have the comb back?" she asked the child, who simply nodded. Galinda finished braiding Elphaba's hair and scooped her daughter in her arms. "There! See? I told you it will look pretty."

"Pretty!" Serena agreed.

"I can't really see it though," Elphaba said, touching the back of her head to feel the braid.

Fiyero approached them, Eirlys still sniffling in his arms. Elphaba raised an eyebrow at him, silently demanding why her daughter was crying.

He scratched his head and said, "She... um... splashed herself with water."

Eirlys, with her chubby arms held out for her mother, looked exhausted. It was probably due to playing with her older brother and with, as Galinda proclaimed it, her best friend all day. Bouncing the baby a bit to calm her down, she kissed Fiyero's cheek as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Where's Liir?" Elphaba asked, untangling herself from her husband.

"The birthday boy is with his auntie Nessa. I think they're building a sandcastle." He pointed them out to her. Liir was getting water with his little pail while Nessa molded the sand into towers.

"Well, I'm glad he's not riding her chair again," she shook her head at the thought. "Go get him, Galinda just told her husband to get the cake."

Fiyero playfully pouted at her. "But I wanted to get the cake."

"You were fooling around with Eirlys," she shrugged.

"Hey, we weren't fooling around. Right, snowdrop?" He glanced at his daughter for approval only to see her fast asleep.

"Is she sleeping?" she asked. Fiyero nodded an answer. "Oh great, now she'll be awake the entire night. She just took her nap a few hours ago."

Fiyero raised his hand. "I volunteer to be parent of the night."

Elphaba chuckled at him warmly. "Thanks, Yero but you're always the parent of the night. Let me take care of my children for once."

"You took care of them when they were...less playful," Fiyero pointed out.

"And you were at my beck and call then while juggling princely duties," she pointed out. "Now, can you please get Liir?"

Fiyero mockingly bowed, causing Elphaba to roll her eyes. But even as he walked off, those eyes still looked at him fondly and lovingly. He approached his sister-in-law, who was still busy building the sandcastle. The tower she was molding kept breaking apart in her hands, causing groans of frustration from both her and the little boy beside her.

"Hey buddy, it's almost time to blow the candles on your cake," he said, kneeling down to his son's size.

"But we're not done yet, daddy," Liir replied. Fiyero furrowed his brows in confusion. Either Liir was still too young to understand the importance of blowing the birthday candles or he just took after Elphaba, who never understood birthdays at all.

Nessarose looked at her nephew. "Maybe we could take a break, Liir. It looks like our tower doesn't want to be built."

"But we can't build it if we're way back there!" he said animatedly.

Liir ran off to get more water, leaving Fiyero with Nessa. The sight of his son splashing in the water put a smile to his face. This was one of the rare times that Liir acted a little more like him than Elphaba. His son was a little gentleman around other people but he's still a playful kid with his loved ones.

"That kid. If he didn't look like you then I'd think he was directly copied off his mother," Nessa said as she once again made the new tower fall apart. "I'm horrendible at this! Fiyero, it's your son that wants this. Come on and help me."

"Okay, okay. For second there, you sounded like your sister." he said, doing the tower for her. Fiyero glanced up to see his son still playing with the waves, momentarily forgetting his sandcastle. "I'm glad that he's not afraid of the water like Elphaba was."

Elphaba knew how to swim now. Fiyero loved taking Liir to the sea with him, so the child grew with a great appreciation for it. Elphaba, unhappy that she couldn't bond with her family in that way, cornered Fiyero one day, when the king and queen took their grandson out for a few hours. As if she was learning it from a book, she learned quickly but she still needed Fiyero around.

"You know, Elphaba never told me why she was so afraid," Nessarose looked at him, before suddenly turning her gaze down. "I knew she drowned when she was child but I know her enough to think that there's probably more than that," he said, not taking his eyes off Liir.

Nessarose studied him for a moment before speaking in a calm tone.

"When we were children," she started, absentmindedly drawing on the sand. "Elphaba, father and I always went to Lake Orizon but not really to swim. Father won't let us. We just played on the sand, like this."

Liir came running to them and gave the pail to his aunt. "I think I don't like sandcastles anymore. Daddy, can I go swimming?"

"You can but you can't go any deeper than your ankles," Fiyero tickled his little leg. "Only for a little while, alright? Mommy will be angry if we're not back in ten minutes."

"Okay!" And he was off

There was a short silence that followed before Fiyero decided to break it. "So, you and Elphaba playing on the sand?" Fiyero pressed on.

Nessa's eyes were glazed over slightly as if she was lost in the memory.

"Elphaba would always tell me stories about our mother and how she loved the water. I guess I felt bad that I didn't have any memories with her, so I tried to convince Elphaba to take me swimming. When she said no, I got a little angry and wandered off by myself. Of course since," she gestured to her legs. "I drowned."

Nessarose smiled to herself.

"The next thing I knew, a blue light was surrounding me, but it wasn't only me. Elphaba was right beside me, her hands glowing. And that light," she closed her eyes and corrected herself. "No, that magic kept me afloat and surprisingly calm. I watched her struggle in the water, sinking and then coming back again and again but I didn't think anything about it... until now,"

Noting the hint of grief in her voice, Fiyero listened on.

"You must understand, that she didn't know about her powers then and everything just came with pure instinct. She wasn't as powerful as she is now. To have me floating and to manipulate my emotions for as long as she did, weakened her until she started to drift downwards. The light around me was dimmer but it was still there."

They both cast a glance at Elphaba. With Eirlys, sleeping soundly in her arms, she looked like the very embodiment of the perfect mother. But Nessa's words made him change his opinion. She was the perfect mother - the epitome of love, strength and sacrifice.

"When father finally came for us, he carried me all the way back home with Elphaba walking behind us, pushing my chair. And father was... he was scolding her about everything. Her carelessness, h-her powers," she laughed with dry humour. "Even about her crying."

"Wow, Nessa, that's - that's," he breathed out, his heart swelling with emotions. "I don't know. I never thought that it was like this."

"I thought I'd tell you because Oz knows she won't tell you herself but please don't tell her I did."

"Deal," he agreed. "Come on, I think the cake's here."

He helped Nessa to her chair before grabbing Liir out of the water. His son whined and stomped but settled once he saw the cake that had four candles on top.

"Chocolate!" Liir exclaimed, excitedly.

"He's totally your son," Elphaba said from behind him. "Only you can get that excited over sweets."

"Weren't you a kid once?" He winced inwardly as soon as the words left his mouth. Elphaba never really had the chance to feel like a kid. Not only was she left out because of her skin, she had Nessa to take care of. Fiyero took her free hand and squeezed it. "He's a boy. Boys tend to be over excited about everything. If you ask me though, I think he's more like you," He paused for a moment and laid his hand on Eirlys' small back. "They both are."

"Oz, help them," she said sarcastically.

Eirlys stirred in her mother's embrace. She opened her eyes and saw the cake, instantly reaching towards it. Liir saw this and looked up to his little sister.

He frowned. "Eirlys, I haven't blown the candles yet! You wait." Eirlys then held out her hands to her to her brother, still looking sleepy but willing to play. "Mommy, can I hold her?"

Fiyero and Elphaba looked at each other. She had a searing 'no' in her gaze but his begged with hers. Fiyero knew who would win. "Oh, alright. Just be careful."

Liir rolled his eyes. "I'm always careful."

Most parents would have told their kids that they can't roll their eyes on their mothers but Fiyero found it so endearing that he can't bring himself to do it. It proves his point that his son took after his wife.

Once Eirlys was settled in her brother's arms, everyone started singing "Happy Birthday". It was obvious from the little boy's face that he was impatient and wanted everyone to stop singing so he could blow the candles and eat some cake. As always, Galinda took her camera and started snapping some pictures. She left Serena in her husband's tight grip since her daughter has always had a fascination with cameras.

"Oh Serena," Galinda said, seeing her one year old squirming in her dad's arms. "You've already had several photos. It's Liir's birthday so it's his turn."

Fiyero winced as Galinda's husband took a good punching to the face. He could sympatize with the pain of a small fist or a foot hitting places that a man does not want to be hit. That's probably the reason why he and the guy got along.

"I don't like pictures, Auntie Galinda." Liir complained.

"But you look so cute with Eirlys!" Galinda said.

"Take a picture of her then," Fiyero heard Liir whisper.

Galinda looked up from her camera. "Okay. Now, a family picture!" Elphaba and Liir groaned at the same time. Fiyero chuckled a bit, taking Eirlys from Liir. "Honestly, you two, it only takes five seconds!"

Elphaba sighed and trudged off towards her family. A glance towards Fiyero's amused gaze made her roll her eyes before she took her daughter from him. "Do I look funny to you?" Elphaba asked, very close to exasperation.

She didn't get to that point, but felt his smirk on her temple. "No, but you make me smile. Does that make you 'look funny'?"

Elphaba softened at his words. "You are so cheesy. I can't believe I married you."

"I can't believe you married me."

Galinda coughed. "Alright, let's save the kissey faces for later," She raised her camera. "Smile!" she sang, before a bright light flashed from the camera. "There. That wasn't so bad."

"Well-" Elphaba started. As soon as Galinda heard her breathe, she whipped back and gave her a pointed look. "Look, Glin, if you want to take pictures so badly then take Eirlys and have Serena pose with her."

Galinda beamed at the suggestion. Carrying Eirlys in one arm and holding Serena's hand, they set off to find a perfect spot for picture taking. The sight of their daughter interacting with Serena put a smile to their faces. The toddler walked around while rambling about things that didn't particularly made sense while their daughter sat on the sand, confused and little bit overwhelmed but still attempting to communicate with Serena.

"Poor baby, she can't handle her 'best friend'," Elphaba mused, leaning her head in Fiyero's shoulder.

Fiyero felt the familiar weight and ran his hand just above her hair. "Well, they'll come to understand each other once they're old enough." He then turned her around and pressed a kiss to her lips.

"So Liir's a big boy now and Eirlys is just starting to walk," she sighed. "I was wondering what happened to 'wait until our firstborn turns five' rule."

"You caved in at two," he said, shaking his head, chuckling.

Suddenly, his sugar filled son launched himself at his leg, making the couple part. Liir looked absolutely adorable with chocolate smashed on his face. His lovely wife, ever prepared, pulled out a handkerchief seemingly from nowhere and wiped everything off.

"Now, why were you so eager to attack daddy, sweetheart?" Elphaba asked the little boy.

"I can tell daddy's future, mommy!"

Elphaba feigned surprise. "Really? What about mine? Can you tell mommy's?"

Liir shook his head and paused for a moment, thinking. "Because daddy's easier."

Fiyero didn't know whether to be offended or interested, but he figured, with Elphaba's expression, he should pretend to be offended a bit.

"Daddy's here, you know?" he said, waving at his wife and son.

"I can tell your future, daddy!" Liir excitedly jumped up and down.

"Really Liir?"

The child nodded. "Yup. Give me your hand, please," he asked, politely. Saying 'please' was one of the traits that Fiyero didn't possess as a child. Though growing up as a prince, he was never one of the most well-mannered kids around. On the other hand, Elphaba grew up differently than he did and made sure their kids were taught to be polite. Though obviously both of them were far from the trait.

Fiyero leaned down, gave his right hand and his son took it with his smaller one. There was something fascinating about seeing his children's hand grow from impossibly tiny to just plain small and knowing they might grow as big as his.

Liir stared intently in his hand, tracing the lines on it. "You're going to get me chocolate cake, everyday."

"Honestly, buddy?"

The little boy nodded, quite serious. "Yes. Look here."

Liir let go of his father's hand, maintaining the serious look on his face. Fiyero looked at his hand intently, planning to play along with the game. All of a sudden, Liir jumped at him and slapped the back of his palm, hitting his face with more force than he expected from a four-year-old.

Before the sense of déjà vu wore off, Elphaba and Liir were already laughing out loud, thoroughly enjoying themselves.

"I can't believe you still fall for that!" Elphaba said, her arms around Liir.

"You looked so funny, daddy!"

Fiyero turned to Elphaba, who was trying to suppress her laughter. "You knew about this?"

Elphaba shook her head. "Oh no. It was all this little man's fault," she said, her hands on Liir's shoulders.

Liir's laughter was reduced to a mischievous smirk.

**I want to thank everyone who read this! All of you are the best! **

**I'm suddenly inspired to put out my multi-chap Fiyeraba that I've been working on for two years. Two years people! Of course, I have to rewrite the first few chapters because I was pretty lame then...**

**There might be a one shot or two shot sequel to this, a prank war-let(?) between Fiyero and Liir. I don't really know. Maybe I'll even do I'mWickedThroughAndThrough's suggestion of an M rated continuation of chapter three ;)**

**I got Eirlys' name from a Loki fanfiction I've been reading :) And the reason why Galinda's husband doesn't have a name is because I only have one name in mind for Galinda's true love OC and it's...in the said two year old story I've been working on.**

**I guess I have to deal with Broadwaygirl21's flying catfish... *dodges* sorry, but I have ninja reflexes.**

**vinkunwildflowerqueen, I remember your assiest (is that even a word?) Fiyero was Out of the Blue Fiyero. He deserved getting his nose punched!**

**Please just PLEASE REVIEW! We might get this up to fifty! Come on...I have a special surprise for the fiftieth reviewer ;) It's so special, I don't even know what it is yet!**

******Thanks x 10^infinity!**


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